30 April 2003 A senior US official from the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) made a first visit to the Iraqi oil ministry in Baghdad on Tuesday, delivering instructions from ORHA chief Jay Garner that the status quo be preserved at the ministry for the time being. In the first meeting since the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime and the occupation of Iraq by US forces, ORHA senior…
Category: 2003
Iraqis Gather to Discuss Political Future
29 April 2003 About 300 Iraqis — most of them exiles until the recent fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime — met in Baghdad on Monday under the leadership of US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and began debating the process of setting up an interim Iraqi government. The Baghdad session is the fourth in a series that started in London in mid-December with a meeting of most political groupings of Iraqi exiles…
Iraq’s Baiji Refinery Sits Idle, Awaiting Power, Repair Work
29 April 2003 Iraq’s Baiji refinery — the biggest and newest of the country’s three main refineries — is being protected by members of the nearby Qaissi tribe. For the 5,000 workers at the Baiji refinery, 200 kilometers north of Baghdad, the first real contacts with US soldiers have yet to come. Hundreds of US army trucks can been seen moving north on the road from Baghdad to Mosul, but…
US Wants Iraqi Ministries Running Soon; Political Plan Unclear
25 April 2003 The chief civil administrator of Iraq, retired US general Jay Garner, announced Thursday that the process of governing Iraq would start next week with the reopening of ministries “which will have Iraqi faces on them” to offer services to the public. Garner also stressed that Iraqi exiles enlisted by Washington to help run important sectors, such as oil, would only be deployed on a temporary basis. But…